The decision of EU Energy Ministers today to instruct the European Commission to prepare post-2020 renewable energy policy "to ensure that the strong impetus provided by the current legislative framework is not lost" is a useful step forward for investor certainty according to EWEA.

The Ministers agreed that the Commission should present "a solid and effective EU post-2020 RES framework".

Nonetheless the EU Council failed to address what EWEA described in a letter to Commissioner Oettinger as "the current crisis being experienced by the wind industry due, not least, to the political uncertainty caused by stop-go policies, and in particular retroactive changes, which significantly undermine investor confidence and needlessly, increase the cost of capital for capital-intensive technologies such as wind energy."

While post-2020 EU energy policy is vital and urgent, EWEA is deeply concerned about the number of sudden or even retroactive changes made by EU member states to renewable energy support mechanisms.